The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1887-05-26
HONE MANUFACTURES.
What One Business Firm is Quietly
Doing in the City of En-
poria,
Without Parade and Almost Unknown
to a Large Majority of Our
Citizens.
A Shirt and Clothing Factory Which
Gives Employment 10 Many
Hands.
Using All the Latest Improvements
in Modern | abor- Saving
Machinery.
Over $1,000 Worth of Material in
the Hands Of Workers All
the Time.


information which was brought to this
Office by Col. Whitley, to the effect that
full-fedged mandatory of shirts,
underwear, overalls, seerserker suits,
and other garments, was in active OPP
Grafton in our midst, and was giving
constant employment to between so
and so hands, and that the firm which
was so quietly doing SO much good for
our city in this way was the well-known
business house of Tanner Bros. & Heed.
The NEWS man, in search of infor-
nation, called on Mr.. Andy Tanner,
the head of the above named firm at
this place, to learn what truth there
was in the rumor, and was agreeably
disappointed to find that it was indeed
true, and that the half had not been
told.
On being Intercepted, Mr.. Tanner
informed the scribe that some six
weeks or two months ago, to meet the
demand for the lines of goods above
mentioned he, in conjunction with the
branch of the firm in Topeka, had COM
menced on a small scale the manufac-
ture of these goods at this place, and
found that the business had SO in
creased on his hands that he had been
compelled to enlarge and purchase new
machinery and employ more hands,
until at the present time he had over
half hundred employees kept con-
stantly busy. Most of the work, he
said, was done at the homes of the
parties employed, but some portions,
such as button-holes, putting on of
buttons, ETC., was done in part of the
business building occupied by them as
sales rooms.
In course of the conversation Mr..
Tanner showed us one of the latest
marvels of machinery in the shape of a
sewing machine for making button
holes, on which one of the young
ladies claimed she had succeeded
in making 200 button holes in one day
-Friday-the first day of it's opera
tion. He also exhibited a machine for
fastening buttons on the clothing, the
swiftness of operation and capacity of
which was wonderful.
This factory supplies all the goods of
this kind handled here and in Topeka
by the branch firm, and we were shown
an order from the Topeka house for a
large bill of summer clothing to go out
just as soon as possible.
So large has the business grown that
Mr.. Tanner says he will have to build a
large addition to the premises now oc-
cupied, and steps were taken yesterday
afternoon looking to that end, and he
has no hesitation in affirming that be-
fore fall he will be giving employment
to more than seventy-five hands regu-
larly, and possibly double the number.
The peculiar feature of this entire
matter lies in the fact that probably
| not one in five hundred of our people
knew such an enterprise was being car
ried on in our midst, and this is ex-
planned by Mr.. Tanner keeping so quiet
about it because, as he says, he has
already more demand for the goods he
makes than he can possibly supply
with the facilities now at his command.
The goods made up here are such as
this section, are far superior to east
ern-made goods, and can be made con
siderably cheaper, and therefore at a
good profit.
This is a practical proof that manu-
| factories of all kinds can do we'll in cur
midst, for here is an industry which,
of all kinds of manufactures, would
be least affected by the long or short
haul clauses of the interstate commerce
| bill, and in whichthe raw material would
cost just about the same per pound TO
be placed in our midst as would the
same article manufactured. doing a
large and profitable business, which
gives promise of an unlimited en-
largement. Now, if this can
be done in a line of this kind, how
much more profitable would be the es-
| tablishment of a manufacturing con-
| Germ here that would utilize the raw
material in our midst, and which we
now have to send east to get manufac-
tured and then pay freight again for its
return. Both these ''iong hauls''
would be avoided, and just so much as
they amounted to would be the advan-
tage of western the manufacturer over
his eastern competitor.
The paper mill to be established here
will be an example of this kind. a
wooden mill would be one of the most
certainly profitable investments fol-
this section. In fact, nearly anything
in the way of manufactures would pay
a good profit on the money invested.